Herald editor quits

Just days after three top Fairfax editors resigned in Sydney and Melbourne, the editor of the Newcastle Herald has also quit.

Newcastle Herald staff have told the ABC morale at the paper is at an all time low after Fairfax announced it was cutting 41 jobs and outsourcing sub-editing to a New Zealand operation.

Earlier this week the editors of Fairfax flagships, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, quit.

Newcastle Herald editor Roger Brock has today followed suit after 35 years in the industry.

The ABC understands Mr Brock was devastated when he told staff jobs would go.

Deputy editor Chad Watson will now replace him.

Garry Linnell is the Editorial Director at Fairfax Metro Media and says the newsroom restructure will preserve local news coverage.

"In our documents and our briefings to the staff, they've underlined that Fairfax is the sum of its parts," he said.

"And that means that if we're putting out the Age in Melbourne and all the platforms are in Sydney, we are going to be very careful about preserving the local voice and the local identity of each brand.

"I mean it would be crazy for us not to do that."

The resignations of the editors come after last week's shock revelation that Fairfax is to shed 1,900 jobs and Gina Rinehart steps up her bid to get on the company's board.